2023 – A new beginning for the Royals. Matt Quatraro era begins. A year to see which of our young players will make up the core going forward. Can Bobby Witt Jr become a superstar SS or will go to the hot corner? Will Brady Singer take the next step forward? Will Salvy be Salvy? Will Big Vin or Pratto take first base? Will they find a position for MJ? Who else emerges from the youth movement? Not to mention the development of the new downtown stadium.
Free Agents/Trades Acquisitions
Jordan Lyles, RHP
Ryan Yarbrough, LHP
Josh Taylor, LHP
Aroldis Chapman, LHP
Top 10 Prospects from Baseball America
1. Gavin Cross, OF
2. Cayden Wallace, 3B
3. Drew Waters, OF
4. Ben Kudrna, RHP
5. Frank Mozzicato, LHP
6. Maikel Garcia, SS
7. Tyler Gentry, OF
8. Nick Loftin, OF/3B
9. Angel Zerpa, LHP
10. Carter Jensen, C [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
It has nothing to do with thinking he sucks at it. Garcia is an above MLB average SS its about getting the best team out there.
Bobby Witt Jr is an above average SS. We don't know if Maikel Garcia is an above average SS, because he hasn't played SS at the major league level. BWJ was said to have gold glove D, but until you actually see that in the majors you can't really know for sure. They now know that BWJ is capable of playing great D at SS. They're not gonna move him because there is a chance that Garcia is a better defender. There is no point in doing that. [Reply]
This team also has jack and shit for OF prospects, it's weird to me you all think it's fine to run Isbel out there everyday when this team has 2 starting shortstops. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
He might not be a Juan Soto, but he's a top 5 SS in the game as a 23 year old (just turned 23 too) and has only been in the majors for a year and a half. He's been on a tear for awhile now and is looking like that superstar he can be.
Over the last 7 games he's hitting .357 with a 1.329 OPS
Over his last 15 games he's hitting .345 with a 1.065 OPS
Over his last 30 games he's hitting .316 with a .951 OPS
He's gotten his OPS on the year to .764 and if he's a .800+ OPS guy with top 5 SS defense, then he is that superstar.
He's got a shot at 30 2Bs, 10 3Bs, 30 HRs, 50 SB. 30 HRs and 50 SBs has literally only been done 2 times in the history of the league. Before today he was on pace for 26 HRs/28 2Bs/9 3Bs/48 SBs. That's superstar level.
30/30/10/50 has never been done. 30/30/50 has been done once by Barry Bonds.
This will be the perfect time to trade him. You could get a massive haul for him. The could restock the farm system with a BWJ trade. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
It has nothing to do with thinking he sucks at it. Garcia is an above MLB average SS its about getting the best team out there.
premature so far..the Royals have had weak hitting CF for a while...Why move Bobby out of his comfort zone right now? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Al Bundy:
This will be the perfect time to trade him. You could get a massive haul for him. The could restock the farm system with a BWJ trade.
I'd be pissed if they traded BWJ. Heres why
1. I'm 90% sure he's going to be a MVP caliber player. No one we get is going to be as good as he is. It's not like we only have a year and a half left or even 2 and a half years of control. We have him the rest of 2023, then 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. That's 4.5 years. Trading him is such a stupid idea. If things look as bleak going into 2026, then absolutely trade him in the off-season. If he develops like I expect, then we'd get an even better haul then we would if we traded him now.
2. I don't trust this organization. They aren't even close to good at identifying talent and I could easily see us getting a few guys that are AAAA players. At best I could see them getting one guy that is avg at the plate and a couple of back end starters. That's not worth giving up a guy with his talent.
3. What team out there has a good enough farm system that they could trade away enough prospects to make our shitty system good? We'd have to get younger prospects and that goes back to me not trusting this organization. I wouldn't trust them to develop anyone they got.
4. He's not even at his max value at the moment.
People need to stop with the trade BWJ shit. It's stupid and doesn't make any sense at all. [Reply]
If Witt finishes the year playing this type of defense, they’re not moving him off of SS. Garcia has been quite excellent at 3B, and I do think having outstanding D at both spots
Is valuable.
I’ve been a “play Cf, Bobby” proponent but just don’t see it happening if he finishes the year playing D like this. The production is starting to match the tools/potential. [Reply]
Originally Posted by dlphg9:
I'd be pissed if they traded BWJ. Heres why
1. I'm 90% sure he's going to be a MVP caliber player. No one we get is going to be as good as he is. It's not like we only have a year and a half left or even 2 and a half years of control. We have him the rest of 2023, then 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. That's 4.5 years. Trading him is such a stupid idea. If things look as bleak going into 2026, then absolutely trade him in the off-season. If he develops like I expect, then we'd get an even better haul then we would if we traded him now.
2. I don't trust this organization. They aren't even close to good at identifying talent and I could easily see us getting a few guys that are AAAA players. At best I could see them getting one guy that is avg at the plate and a couple of back end starters. That's not worth giving up a guy with his talent.
3. What team out there has a good enough farm system that they could trade away enough prospects to make our shitty system good? We'd have to get younger prospects and that goes back to me not trusting this organization. I wouldn't trust them to develop anyone they got.
4. He's not even at his max value at the moment.
People need to stop with the trade BWJ shit. It's stupid and doesn't make any sense at all.
He's just had super fluky babip this year. He will be fine. Last week, he was hitting. 257,while his expected BA was like. 295. That's a crazy rough run. [Reply]
So to push back against the you dont trade Bobby Witt thing...then how do you restock the minors? We have literally no hope to be gopd for at least 5 years. Our milb system is horrid. We dont have enough ready made guys to compete. If you AREN'T worried about the fans or if your downtown stadium gets through you should absolutely consider trading the valuable pieces and start over. This team is going nowhere. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
So to push back against the you dont trade Bobby Witt thing...then how do you restock the minors? We have literally no hope to be gopd for at least 5 years. Our milb system is horrid. We dont have enough ready made guys to compete. If you AREN'T worried about the fans or if your downtown stadium gets through you should absolutely consider trading the valuable pieces and start over. This team is going nowhere.
:-) Circles right back around to trading him for the sake of it even though it couldn't have been made much clearer above why that's a fucking stupid idea.
For fucks sake BWillie, if you're going to shitpost and play the reerun could you at least try and be the TINIEST bit entertaining?
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
If Witt finishes the year playing this type of defense, they’re not moving him off of SS. Garcia has been quite excellent at 3B, and I do think having outstanding D at both spots
Is valuable.
I’ve been a “play Cf, Bobby” proponent but just don’t see it happening if he finishes the year playing D like this. The production is starting to match the tools/potential.
Then I guess Garcia becomes a second baseman at that point because he loses a lot of value at 3rd. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BWillie:
So to push back against the you dont trade Bobby Witt thing...then how do you restock the minors? We have literally no hope to be gopd for at least 5 years. Our milb system is horrid. We dont have enough ready made guys to compete. If you AREN'T worried about the fans or if your downtown stadium gets through you should absolutely consider trading the valuable pieces and start over. This team is going nowhere.
You re-stock it by being better as a front office...
By trading Scott Barlow and getting a good return (which should be Chapman+)
By trading Salvador Perez to the Marlins and getting a nice haul in return
By trading Nicky Lopez and getting something decent
By developing better in the minors. Without that, it wouldn't matter what they got back for Witt if trading him in the offseason. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
Then I guess Garcia becomes a second baseman at that point because he loses a lot of value at 3rd.
It's about 5 runs of defensive value at 2B or 3B vs. SS. At least according to Fangraphs. I don't know how bRef calculates the core defensive value of each position.
2B and 3B are equally valuable defensively. Are you just looking at it from the lens of the power production you usually see at the position? If he's not playing SS, it doesn't really matter where he's playing if he's a guy you want to build with.
You can win a WS with a Chone Figgins type at 3B. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
It's about 5 runs of defensive value at 2B or 3B vs. SS. At least according to Fangraphs. I don't know how bRef calculates the core defensive value of each position.
2B and 3B are equally valuable defensively. Are you just looking at it from the lens of the power production you usually see at the position? If he's not playing SS, it doesn't really matter where he's playing if he's a guy you want to build with.
You can win a WS with a Chone Figgins type at 3B.
Does that metric need recalibrated after the removal of the extreme shift though? Genuinely asking, not sure. [Reply]
Originally Posted by duncan_idaho:
It's about 5 runs of defensive value at 2B or 3B vs. SS. At least according to Fangraphs. I don't know how bRef calculates the core defensive value of each position.
2B and 3B are equally valuable defensively. Are you just looking at it from the lens of the power production you usually see at the position? If he's not playing SS, it doesn't really matter where he's playing if he's a guy you want to build with.
You can win a WS with a Chone Figgins type at 3B.
I'd prefer a guy with a better bat at 3rd if you are gonna have the piles of garbage in the OF this team has...
Another thing can this team just admit that MJ Melendez is not an OFer, he's brutal out there. [Reply]
